Inspiration for improvisers
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Musicians, Premium Only, Transcribing
Sonny Rollins is one of those rare musical masters that seems to have it all figured out when it comes to improvisation. And if you’re a musician that’s been searching for the missing answers to improve your solos on the jazz repertoire, he’s the perfect player to study. …especially if you’re trying to develop your …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips, Myths, Perspectives
When exactly do I become good at improvising? Is there a single point that occurs where I can finally play like I want to? These are questions that inevitably pop up and hover at the back of your mind as you begin learning to improvise. Is all the work you’re doing now really going to …
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How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
We all have those days in the practice room…days where you can’t seem to get anything right. Where you’re fighting your instrument and you want to scream… I’m sure you know the feeling of a frustrating day in the practice room. It’s frustrating because you’ve set aside time in your day specifically for practicing and …
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Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only, Tunes
If you’ve ever been to a jam session before, you’ve probably encountered the famous Thelonious Monk tune Well You Needn’t. Over the years, it’s become one of the most popular jazz standards, but unfortunately, this is one of the tunes that the infamous Real Book got wrong… The chord progression of Well You Needn’t written …
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Chords, Composition, Playing Techniques, Premium Only
Everybody wants to play “outside” the chord changes. They think there is something mysterious about getting outside the changes. In my experience, the phenomenal players that I’ve studied with along with the legendary players I’ve learned from on recordings, approach playing outside the harmony much in the same way they approach playing inside the harmony: …
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The difference between many subjects and jazz improvisation is that the latter has no single correct and well-defined path. Every person takes a different route depending how they learn, how they hear, what they want to sound like, and countless other factors. Because we all are shooting for different musical goals and have different ways …
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Chords, Composition, Jazz Language, Premium Only
As the article last Wednesday discussed, learning to apply language to tunes is crucial because it puts the language into context, allowing your ears and fingers to gain an understanding of how to integrate the language into your overarching concept. Over time, the language you practice this way will spontaneously materialize in new form, surprising …
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Jazz Language, Jazz Musicians, Playing Techniques
Herbie Hancock is one of the greatest living improvisers. From his work with the great Miles Davis Quintet to his own musical explorations, he has spent decades evolving and pushing musical boundaries. But the thing that stands out most is his ability to craft a musical moment for the listener. To transport them out of …
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Chords, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Language
Just learn a few ii V licks in all keys, learn how to use them, and that’s jazz, right? Unfortunately not. ii Vs make up the bulk of chord progressions found in all western music from classical to pop music, hence, ii Vs are necessary to master. However, a common result from working on ii …
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Jazz Advice and Tips, Jazz Standards, Premium Only
What if I told you there’s a simple little trick to learn chord changes to a tune in a just a few minutes? That the countless hours you’ve spent reading tunes out of the Real Book can finally come to a close and you can begin to have chord changes live in your head, where …
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Ear Training, How to Practice Jazz, Jazz Advice and Tips
There is one important part of practicing and learning any musical instrument or musical style that many players are unintentionally missing. A necessary skill that’s so obvious it often remains hidden in plain sight. It seems to be the same across the board from absolute beginners to college music majors. It doesn’t matter if you …
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We talk a lot about ingraining language. It’s vital to have an array of ideas at your fingertips for any given harmonic situation. And these ideas should be so ingrained that you can easily make them your own with little effort. Visualization can speed up the process of ingraining language tremendously. Can’t visualize it, can’t …